Sochi Surprises: Noora Raty Retires

There were two large surprises on the women's side of the Sochi hockey tournament on Saturday.

The first was that Swedes upset the Finns by a score of 4-2, knocking the bronze medal favorite Finns out of medal contention.

The second was that Finland's star goaltender Noora Raty announced her retirement immediately following the game.

“My playing ends here,” Raty told the Olympic News Service after the game. “I already decided before the tournament that this is my last international tournament.”

Next season the 24-year-old will be on a try-out with Kiekko-Vantaa of the second-tier men’s league in Finland and she hopes to earn a professional contract.

“If I can play professional hockey I will keep playing,” said Raty. “But if I can’t earn any money from playing I might be done.” Finland coach Mika Pieniniemi paid tribute to Raty’s outstanding career.

Raty, who started playing on the national team at the age of 15, is easily considered to be one of the best female goaltenders in the world. This was her third Olympics. She also competed in seven World Championships and led the University of Minnesota to two NCAA championships.

In other women's hockey news from Sochi, Switzerland eliminated Russia from medal contention with a 2-0 shutout by Florence Schelling.

Sochi 2014: Women's Hockey: European Goalies Stand Tall

This is Florence Schelling - goaltender for Switzerland .She opened the Sochi 2014 Olympics with an expected loss to Canada. But what a performance she had in the 5-0 loss.

Schelling, who starred at Northeastern University and now plays pro womens hockey in Canada for Brampton, stopped 64 of 69 shots to keep the score respectable for the Swiss.

Jocelyne Larocque and Tara Watchorn scored for Canada in a dominant first period in which they outshot the Swiss 29-3.

Rebecca Johnston collected a goal and two assists while Hayley Wickenheiser and Marie-Philip Poulin also scored.

Charlene Labonte made 14 saves for the shutout as Canada begins it's quest for a 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal in women's hockey.

Interestingly, this victory is the first for new coach Kevin Dineen. The former NHL and 1984 Olympian took over as head coach a couple of months back. 

Schelling is no stranger to Olympic success. In 2006 she had a remarkable 93.9 save percentage and 2.40 GAA. Her performance helped her win Switzerland's Woman of the Year in 2007.

USA 3 - Finland 1

Hilary Knight, Kelly Stack and Alex Carpenter - the daughter of former NHL star Bobby Carpenter - all scored in the United States' tournament-opening 3-1 win against Finland at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Susanna Tapani scored for Finland, while goaltender Noora Raty was outstanding stopping 40 of 43 shots. Raty led the University of Minnesota to back-to-back NCAA championships in 2012 and 2013.